Introduction

Demography is the study of human population dynamics. It encompasses the study of the size, structure and distribution of populations, and how populations change over time due to births, deaths, migration, fertility and aging. Demographic characteristics can therefore relate to whole societies or to smaller groups defined by criteria such as age, sex, marital composition, ethnicity, education, occupation, religion, or ethnicity. Demographic data is very relevant in development planning since planning is concerned with the future needs and wellbeing of the people. Policy makers and planners demographic data such as population size, structure and distribution of population to enable them come out with informed decisions.

The objective of this chapter is to analyse the population size, composition, age-sex structure, and changes in the District?s population based on the 2010 Population and Housing Census. This chapter also discusses these characteristics in terms of size and distribution, sex ratio, fertility, migration and deaths of persons enumerated in the district during the census.

Population Size and Distribution

Table 2.1 as illustrated below presents data on the population by age, sex and type of locality. The Nandom District has a total population of 46,040 and this consist of a greater majority (39,142) living in the rural areas and just a few (6,898) in the urban area. The distribution of the population by sex reveals that, 22,295(48.4%) are males and 23,745(51.6%) of the population are females.

The sex ratio in the district is approximately 94 males for per every 100 females. This means that for every 100 females in the district, there are approximately 94 males. This figure is greater than the regional sex ratio of 91.3. The sex ratio increased from age group (0-4) to age group (15-19) and started to decline from age group (20-24) to age group (85-89), with fluctuations up to age group (85+). This indicates that on average there are more females than males in the district as shown in the Table.

Age Dependency ratio

Age dependency ratio is the ratio of dependents (people younger than 15 or older than 64 years) to the working-age population (those aged 15-64 years). Table 2.1 shows that, out of the total population of 46,040, 54.7 percent of the population represent persons aged 15-64 where as 37.2 percent and 8.1 percent represent the populations aged 15-64 and 65 + respectively. Unlike the population aged 0-14 where males form majority, the table generally reveals that females form the predominant population among persons within the age groups 15-64 and 65+. This attest to the fact that more males die in their advancing ages than females.

The district has an age dependency ratio of 82.8. This implies that for every 100 working population, 83 people are dependants. It is interesting to note that, there are more males (87.0) dependants than females (79.0) in the district. This implies that, a greater majority of the female population is found in the working age (15-64) than males. The rural population 17

with a dependency ratio of 87.2 however remains the highest dependent group in the district as compared to the urban population.

Age-Sex Structure

Figure 2.1 indicates the age structure for both male and female in the Nandom District. The district?s population generally has a youthful structure, with a broad base, typical of a developing country, consisting of greater proportion of children and an apex of a small number of aged persons (Figure 2.1).The youthful population has variations within the various age groups. For example, there are more males than females in the age groups from 0 to 19 years. There are, however, more females than males for the age groups 20-59 years. This probably may be due to more males moving to the southern sector for farming activities than females.

The proportion aged 60 years and older is 10.7 percent. It can be realized from the population pyramid (Figure 2.1) that there are again more females than males aged 60 years and older; indicating high mortality in aged males than females. The population reduces as ageing advances. However, programmes that will improve the wellbeing of the aged population should be enhanced.

The rapid growth of the adolescent and youth populations exerts increased pressure to expand education, health services and employment opportunities.

Fertility, Mortality and Migration

Fertility analysis is of central importance in demographic analysis as births are a vital component of population growth. Fertility provides important information about the probable development of the age structure which possible effects on population growth of economic and social changes public health measures. Data on mortality are needed for analysis of past and current population changes and are required for making projections of demographic change and its characteristics in order to facilitate better development planning. Migration is the third basic factor affecting change in population distribution, growth and decline. It also modifies the demographic characteristics of areas of origin and of destination.

Fertility

Fertility refers to the actual birth performance i.e. frequency of childbearing among a population and the 2010 Population and Housing Census (PHC) collected both current and lifetime fertility data from females aged 12 years and older.

Table 2.2 shows, data on female population 12 years and older by their total fertility rate, general fertility rate and crude birth rate for the Nandom District.

Total fertility rate (TFR) is the average number of children a woman will have given birth by the end of her reproductive years at the prevailing age-specific fertility rate.The TFR for the district is 3.2 slightly lower than that of the region (3.5) and the national figures which is also 4.12.

There are other fertility measures such as crude birth rate (CBR) and general fertility rate (GFR). The crude birth rate (CBR) is defined as the number of births in a given year divided 19 by the population in the middle of that year. The general fertility rate (GFR) is the number of births in a given year divided by the mid-year population of women in the age group 15-49. General fertility rate (GFR) for Nandom District is 88.0 lower than the Regional rate of 97.4 and the crude birth rate in the district is 20.7 lower than the Regional rate of 23.1.

Migration

Migration is defined as a geographical movement involving a change from a usual place of residence over a defined territory beyond a defined period (United Nations, 2012). According to the 2010 PHC, migrants are classified as persons who were enumerated in a place different from where they were born, while non-migrants were persons who were enumerated in the place they were born.

Table 2.6 presents the population classified by birthplace and number of duration of residence migrants. Out of the total population of 46,040 in the Nandom District, 2,050 people are migrants. Of the total number of migrants, 845 (21.9%) were born elsewhere in the Upper West Region while 1,135 (55.3%) were born elsewhere in other regions of Ghana.

There are however variations in the number of migrants from other regions of Ghana. The proportion of migrants born elsewhere in other regions ranges from a high 476 (23.3%) in Ashanti Region to a low 29 (1.4%) in Volta Region. Out of the total migrants of 2,050 persons, 21.1 percent have lived in the Nandom District for 1-4 years while 24.0 percent have resided in the district for 20 years and above. The table again indicates that 12.2 percent have lived in the district for 5-9 years, 13.4 percent have been living in the district for 10-19 years and 29.3 percent have also lived in the district for less than one (1) year.